In this excerpt from his new book "Eaarth", Bill McKibben discusses how such efforts as the Transition movement and farmer's markets are tapping into our need for neighbors.
Cheap oil made us the first society in history that had no need for neighbors; we can acquire anything we want or need on our own. That's about to change, argues Bill McKibben, as the forces of peak oil and climate change will require that we get to know one another again.
"The Transition Town movement began in England and has spread to North America and Asia; in one city after another, people are building barter networks, expanding community gardens. And they've paid equal, or even greater, attention to suburbia; in the developed world, after all, that's where most people live. Across the country communities have begun to transform themselves.
Often a farmers' market is the catalyst -- not just because people find that they like local produce, but because they actually meet each other again. It shouldn't surprise us that farmers' markets are the fastest-growing part of our food economy; they are simply the way that humans have always shopped, acquiring gossip and good cheer along with calories."
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Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
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Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
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Driving Equity and Clean Air: California Invests in Greener School Transportation
California has awarded $500 million to fund 1,000 zero-emission school buses and chargers for educational agencies as part of its effort to reduce pollution, improve student health, and accelerate the transition to clean transportation.
Congress Moves to End Reconnecting Communities and Related Grants
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee moved to rescind funding for the Neighborhood Equity and Access program, which funds highway removals, freeway caps, transit projects, pedestrian infrastructure, and more.
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How the Covid-19 pandemic taught us new ways to reclaim city streets from cars.
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